Pompey wait goes on over deal for defender

Neil Allen

Pompey are still waiting to hear from Gabor Gyepes whether he will be remaining at Fratton Park.

The Hungarian missed yesterday’s 5-0 hammering at Swindon with a hamstring injury – the problem which also kept him out of the Yeovil defeat on Saturday.

Joining him on the sidelines yesterday were Ricardo Rocha and Brian Howard, both of whom hobbled off against the Glovers. In terms of bolstering his defence, Guy Whittingham is hoping at least one of either Rocha or Gyepes will be able to return for Walsall on Friday night after the Blues shipped five goals in 22 second-half minutes yesterday.

Gyepes’ Pompey deal ends on January 5 – that is 24 hours after the trip to the Bescott Stadium. The 31-year-old has already been sent a letter by the club informing him of their intention to renew his current contract by another month.

As of yet, they are unaware whether he will accept that offer or if he will walk away from Pompey once his current deal expires.

Gyepes has already admitted he will look at other options if he is unable to commit himself to Fratton Park on a long-term deal.

Whittingham said: ‘Gabor was out and Ricardo was out and it’s disappointing when you go to a place like Swindon because you need players who are going to fight for you.

‘I’m hoping for at least one of them to be back for the Walsall game – we’ll have to wait and see.

‘No-one has yet told us they intend to leave and the same applies to Gabor, whose contract is up very soon.

‘He has received a letter telling him we are going to carry on with his contract – then he has to give us notice of what he is going to do.